Page 88 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol. 11

Saturday

Despite Empire High’s less than stellar first half, they ended up winning by two touchdowns.

Normally I’d be jumping up and down cheering. But instead I kept stealing glances at my parents.

I was just like my mom. And my dad was going to kill me.

“We won!” Sophie yelled and hugged me.

Guilt twisted my stomach as I hugged her back.

I knew people were talking around us. And that the team had jogged out of the stadium. And that the stands were emptying. But it was almost like I wasn’t there. Like I was just watching it from a distance, completely numb. Even the stadium lights didn’t seem as bright as usual.

“Have fun at the victory party tonight,” my mom said.

I wasn’t going to have fun. I was going to be sick.

She gave me a weird look. “Is everything okay?”

“Mhm.” My response came out squeaky and strange.

“Well, call us if you need a ride home, alright?” She kissed the top of my head. Her and my father walked toward the exit.

“I can’t believe they won,” Sophie said. “I thought for sure Axel was going to throw a few more passes all wonky. Although, I do suspect that he was trying to hit the kissing booth.”

Yeah, that made sense. He thought of himself as my big brother. He was probably trying to ward off potential dates or however Jacob had put it. And normally the thought would have annoyed me. But I was internally panicking. “Sophie, I need to tell you something.”

“Tell me in the car. This is the one party of the year I like being on time to. It’s my favorite one.” She hooked her arm through mine as we walked out of the stadium.

This party was usually my favorite of the year too.

After the first game of the season, the football team always threw a party in the woods behind Jacob’s grandparents’ home.

My grandfather technically had a home on that street too.

But he lived in the city now. The house had remained untouched for years.

Like some kind of museum. I didn’t have a ton of memories at the house my father grew up in.

The only thing I really remembered was his old treehouse.

There was something fun about visiting the treehouse after a few drinks. And imagining what shenanigans my father and his friends used to get up to when he was my age.

But I didn’t want to think about any of my dad’s shenanigans tonight.

Or my mom’s.

Seriously...how had I become an exact mini-me of her without even meaning to?

“Sophie, I really need to tell you something,” I said as we climbed into her car.

“Were the kisses really so bad? I really thought once we got started you’d be into it.”

“No, they were fine.” I pressed my lips together.

“It’s okay that we didn’t find your kiss thief. We’ve narrowed it down to ten guys. That’s a big deal. You can make out with the rest of them at the party.”

I’d narrowed it down to one. And suddenly a drifter didn’t sound as bad as the truth.

Sophie pulled the car out of the parking lot.

I should have told her the truth before she’d gotten behind the wheel. If I told her who the mascot was now, she’d probably accidentally swerve into oncoming traffic and kill us. Or maybe she’d do it on purpose.

So I just let the silence stretch between us as we drove to the woods.

And then once the party started, I waited for Sophie to have a drink in her hand. Nothing seemed quite as bad when a bonfire was going and the smell of fall was in the air. Maybe she wouldn’t freak out as much as I was worried she would. But I was certainly still freaking out.

“Soph,” I said. “I...um...”

“What is going on? You’ve been so quiet ever since the kissing booth blew up.”

I downed my entire cup and winced.

“Whoa, slow down. Barely anyone is even here yet.” She grabbed my cup away from me.

“Sophie, I made out with a teacher!”

“I’m sorry...what?”

“I rewound the footage from the locker room to see who the mascot was. And it’s a...he’s a...the kiss thief is our teacher.”

“Which teacher?”

The bonfire crackled and hissed.

And it was almost like it was Sophie’s soon-to-be wrath. I couldn’t even say it out loud. And I wasn’t sure she’d believe me even if I could form the words. She needed to see it for herself. I pulled out my phone and hit play where I’d paused the video.

Sophie’s jaw actually dropped. “No.”

“I’m so sorry, Soph.”

She grabbed my phone from me and stared in horror at the footage. “The mascot is Mr. Halifax?” Her voice cracked.

I nodded, but she wasn’t looking at me.

“Mr. Halifax is the mascot?”

It was the same statement, just worded differently.

I understood her shock. But why was she not freaking out right now?

Because I had been internally freaking out for hours.

I expected her to scream or something. Or toss my phone into the fire.

This whole thing was such a betrayal and I hadn’t even meant to do it. Yeah, I definitely felt sick.

“So...Mr. Halifax is your kiss thief?” she said slowly.

I nodded again. “Sophie, I swear I had no idea. I...I don’t even like him. I...what the actual hell?”

“What kind of disgusting teacher makes out with a student?” she said and shoved my phone back into my hands.

Um... That was a turn I didn’t expect. She’d been trying to make out with him all year. And it was also kind of an insult to my dad since technically my mom had been one of his students. God, everything suddenly felt so messy.

“I don’t know,” I said. “But why the heck would Mr. Halifax kiss me? And text me all this stuff?”

She shook her head. “I guess grown ass men play games too.”

“What?”

“He’s clearly trying to make me jealous by making out with my best friend.” She downed the rest of her drink too.

“Soph...” My phone buzzed. I looked down at a new text from the kiss thief. “Ah! It’s him.”

“What did that little asshole say?”

I read her the text: “You look beautiful right now. But you’d look even better in my jacket.” I looked up at Sophie. “He’s here.”

“I can’t wait to give Mr. Halifax a piece of my mind,” Sophie said. “Where is he?”

But we looked around and didn’t see him anywhere.

While we had been immersed in the footage of the locker room, the party had gone into full swing.

There were several bonfires lit. The fire and smoke obscured our view a bit.

But we made our way through the woods and didn’t see one sign of Mr. Halifax. Just a bunch of drunken students.

Which made sense. Why would Mr. Halifax be here?

“Seriously, where is he?” Sophie said.

I looked back down at the text. “Sophie, what would Mr. Halifax even mean by his jacket? The kiss thief is obviously talking about a varsity jacket in this text. And Mr. Halifax wouldn’t come to a high school party.”

Sophie just stared at me.

“All the texts the kiss thief sends mess with my head. But his texts about being a mascot were worded very weirdly, remember? He said he was the mascot that day. Remember we thought he stole the costume?”

“Maybe...”

“And I’ve sent the kiss thief more pictures since then. And he’s never sent one back. If he had the costume on hand, wouldn’t he just keep sending me funny pics of himself in that?”

Sophie exhaled slowly. “That’s true.”

“Definitely true.” I mean...I hoped. I didn’t want to have made out with my teacher! Especially accidentally. “My kiss thief is on the football team. I’m sure of it.” I wasn’t really sure. But I desperately wanted it to be true.

Sophie nodded. “You’re probably right. Mr. Halifax would never do that to me. I know he’s playing hard to get. But playing hard to get and hooking up with my best friend are two different things entirely.”

Mr. Halifax wasn’t playing hard to get. He was playing the role of her teacher.

“So the mascot thing was a bust,” Sophie said.

I hoped so. I really hoped so. But I had this unease in my chest that I couldn’t shake.

Your kiss thief isn’t Mr. Halifax . I said it over and over again in my head, hoping the phrase would become true if I thought it enough.

I should have told Sophie as soon as I saw Mr. Halifax in the costume.

That could have saved me a couple hours of spiraling.

I just wanted the thought of Mr. Halifax out of my head.

“But your kiss thief is definitely here...wait.” She grabbed my phone back and started texting.

I looked over her shoulder. She’d just texted him: “Prove you’re at the party.”

My kiss thief didn’t respond.

“This wait is killing me,” Sophie said as we filled up our cups again.

It was killing her? I was the one basically having a heart attack every day from the suspense. I took a huge sip of my drink.

It took a few minutes, but then my phone finally buzzed. He’d sent a picture of Sophie and me staring at my phone. Back from before we’d walked over to the keg.

“It must have been taken from over there.” I pointed toward one of the bonfires. It had the perfect angle of where we’d been staring at the phone a few minutes ago.

There were a few guys standing around the bonfire laughing. But none of them were paying us any attention.

“Let’s go talk to them,” Sophie said.

I grabbed her arm before she could walk over there. “But the kiss thief could have snapped the picture a few minutes ago and moved.” I sighed. “None of those guys are even looking at us.”

“That sneaky bastard,” Sophie said. “Wait! Is that Eli Jones over there?”

“Yeah.” It was indeed Eli Jones. He was one of the guys standing at the bonfire laughing. Could it have been him who’d taken the picture?

“He’s probably forcing himself not to look over here,” Sophie said. “So that we don’t suspect him.”

I shrugged. “Maybe.”

“Follow my lead,” Sophie said.

I didn’t love the sound of that. But I quickly followed her.

We walked over to the bonfire, our shoes crunching on the freshly fallen leaves. The guys kept laughing about something.

And I really hoped they weren’t laughing about the mysterious texts I’d been getting from...Eli?

“Great game,” Sophie said.